President Donald Trump is weighing an executive order that would push the federal government to reclassify cannabis, a step that could mark the most significant shift in U.S. cannabis policy in decades—even as the White House cautions that no final decision has been made.The deliberations, first reported late Thursday by The Washington Post, center on moving marijuana from Schedule I—the government’s most restrictive category, reserved for drugs deemed to have no accepted medical use—to Schedule III, a classification that would acknowledge medical value and loosen some federal controls.
“This is an encouraging development and a strong indicator that comprehensive legalization is no longer a distant goal,” says Sorse Tech CEO Howard Lee. The Post reported Trump discussed the potential policy change in a call that included House Speaker Mike Johnson and cannabis industry executives, alongside senior administration officials. Johnson voiced skepticism, the report said, while industry participants pressed the case that rescheduling would reduce barriers to research and help normalize a legal market that now operates in tension with federal law.
In response to the news, Sasha Nutgent, VP of cannabis retail for Housing Works Cannabis Co. out of New York, tells Cannabis Now that with today’s current cannabis classification, “retailers are not incentivized to operate legally. Reclassification would change that for thousands of businesses, especially those owned by folks from communities most impacted by the War on Drugs.”
Industry and Markets Brace for Potential Policy Change
News of the possible executive order rippled quickly through financial markets early this morning. Cannabis-related stocks and exchange-traded funds jumped in premarket trading after the Post report, according to Reuters, reflecting investor optimism that a federal shift could ease access to capital and reduce tax burdens that have long squeezed state-legal operators.
Rescheduling, however, would not legalize marijuana nationwide. Even supporters describe it as a narrower, technical move with broad downstream effects—especially for research, medical access and business operations—rather than a sweeping rewrite of prohibition-era policy.
Gennaro Luce, founder and CEO at CannaLnx, powered by EM2P2, argues that “Rescheduling is an important and overdue shift for patient-centric healthcare, but the move to Schedule III alone isn’t enough to make medical cannabis more accessible or affordable.”
Luce says insurers still need verification, compliance and eligibility frameworks before they can treat medical cannabis like a real benefit. “That part of the system is still missing from the national conversation — fortunately, it’s the medical-cannabis system piece we’ve already built and tested alongside physicians, patients, dispensaries, POS systems and insurers.”
Legal Nuances Stall Progress
President Trump’s co
